Transcript
Art Movements of
the Post WWI Years 1919-1939
Raphaella W. Chappaqua, NY
modernism 1916 - 1940
The expression of the Artist’s right to freedom of choice in subject and style.
Departure from literal representation – no longer needed with birth of photography.
“Art for Art’s sake”
Reject tradition and society.
Principles of Modernism
Art movements as part of Modernism
Dadaism (1916 – 1924)
Bauhaus (1919 – 1933)
Art Deco (1920 – 1935)
Surrealism [early] (1920 - 1935)
dadaism 1916 - 1924
Tristan Tzara – founder of Dadaism
“ Freedom : Dada Dada Dada, a
roaring of tense colors, and
interlacing of opposites and all
contradictions, grotesques,
inconsistencies: LIFE”
“Dada Manifesto” [1919]
Began in neutral Switzerland in WWI
Also big in Paris.
Reached its peak between 1916 – 1924
“Anti – Art”
A movement against rigidity of society and art, and the barbarity of war – the public didn’t deserve art after the war.
Dadaism
Characteristics of Dada Art
Nonsensical drawings
Pastel and faded colors
Used collages and layers – to confuse
the “unworthy beholder.”
“The beginnings of surrealism” –
many Dada artists went on to become
members of the Surrealist movement.
Subjects sometimes mundane, called
art as irony. (e.g.– bicycle wheel, flyer.)
Important Artists of the Dada Movement
Tristan Tzara (1896 – 1953)
Francis Picabia (1879 – 1953)
Kurt Schwitters (1887 – 1948)
Max Ernst (1891 – 1976)
Marcel Duchamp (1887 – 1958)
Kurt
Schwitters
The Cherry
Picture
1921
Kurt
Schwitters
Merz 448
(Moscow)
1922
Kurt
Schwitters
Kleine
Dada
Soiree
1922
Example covers of Dada Magazine (1917 & 1920)
bauhaus 1919 - 1933
Walter Gropius: Founder of Bauhaus
“The School will gradually turn
into a workshop…
Art and Technology - a
new unity.”
Bauhaus Began in 1919 with
Bauhaus School in
Weimar, Germany.
Lead by Walter
Gropius, Hannes Meyer,
& Ludwig Mies Van Der
Rohe.
Wanted to create new
art to reflect the new
times they were living
in after WWI.
Artist should be trained
to work in the industry.
Walter Gropius Born in Berlin in 1883
Served as Sgt. Major in WWI.
In 1919 was employed as the new master of the Grand-Ducal Saxon School of Arts and Crafts in Weimar – became the Bauhaus School.
Fled Germany and the Nazi Party in 1934.
Died in Boston, MA in 1969.
Characteristics of Bauhaus
A lack of recognizable objects – wanted
to find the true meaning of art through
disassembling it.
Clean lines, geometric shapes layered.
In architecture: clean, functional.
Like Dadaism, was a step toward
surrealism for artists such as Wassily
Kandinsky.
Stylistic patterns altered as leaders of the
school changed – earlier Bauhaus is
different to later Bauhaus.
Important members of the Bauhaus school
Walter Gropius (1883-1969)
Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944)
Josef Albers (1888-1976)
Herbert Bayer (1900 - 1985)
Bauhaus School in Dessau, Germany
Wassily
Kandinsky
Contrasting
Sounds
1924
Wassily
Kandinsky
On White II
1923
Wassily Kandinsky
Yellow Red Blue
1925
Josef Albers
Figure (Glass,
Colour and
Light)
1921
Like Dada,
Bauhaus also
published
periodicals and
magazines.
Head of printing
and design for
Bauhaus Magazine
was Herbert Bayer.
The Bauhaus
school also
published books
called
Bauhausbücher
art deco 1920 - 1935
Art Deco
Center: Paris.
Gained the title “Art Deco”
from Exposition
Internationale des Arts
Decoratifs et Industriels
Modernes in 1925
A new kind of decorative
and elegant art.
Reached its high point in
the mid ’20s – mid 30’s.
Reaction to the forced
austerity caused by WWI.
Characteristics of Art Deco
Geometric shapes
Although not the flowing swirls of Art
Nouveau, had bolder curves and less
“fussy” designs.
Bold colors, and new ways of shading
pictures.
Idealistic images of the “flaming
youth” of the “roaring twenties”.
Carried a theme through pieces,
especially in interiors and architecture.
Exposition Internationale des arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes
April – November 1925
Held in Paris
To show the world that France once again led the way in a new evolving international style – “Art Deco”.
Changed the perception of Bauhaus, Colonial Art and, predominantly, the Art Deco style as legitimate movements.
Important Art Deco Artists
Tamara de Lempicka
(1898 – 1980)
“Erte” - Romain De Tirtoff (1892 – 1990)
William Van Allen (1883 – 1954)
“Cassandre” - Adolphe
Mouron (1901 – 1968)
Tamara de
Lempicka
Self Portrait in
the Green
Bugatti
1925
Erte
Design for
Lanternbearer in
“Venise XVII”
1919
Erte
L’Arc En Ciel
(Cover for
“Harpers
Bazaar”)
1929
Cassandre
L’Atlantique
1932
early surrealism 1920 - 1935
Surrealism Inspired by new psychology of two men:
Sigmund Freud & Carl Gustav Jung
Basic Principles Freud
Human development is best understood as changing objects of sexual desire
Wishes are repressed and emerge from the subconscious in “accidental” bursts – Freudian slips.
Neuroses are caused by repressed memories and unconscious conflicts.
ID, Ego and Super Ego.
Jung
Neuroses are caused by conflicts between individuals subconscious and greater world.
Sexual desire does not play as huge a role.
Must make a healthy relationship between the conscious and unconscious – shouldn’t be cut off from it, but shouldn’t be swamped by it.
Surrealism Divided into two groups based on different interpretations of Freud and Jung – the Automatists and the Veristic Surrealists.
Automatists - suppress conscious in order to free the subconscious, inspired by more “Dadaist” ideals, shouldn’t be overly analyzed.
Veristic Surrealists - follow the images of the subconscious so they can be interpreted; art is a way to freeze ideas of the subconscious.
Surrealism Lead by Andre Brenton, a French doctor who had served in the trenches during WWI.
Subject matter was varied:
– some pieces show a complete dislocation from any sort of literal “reality” (for example, Max Ernst’s works)
-- other pieces show “normal” situations with a spark of absurdity (for example, Rene Magritte's works.)
Bright colors among sometimes dull backgrounds.
Max Ernst
Hydrometric
Demonstration
Of How To Kill
By Temperature
1920
Max Ernst
Kupferblech
1919
Max Ernst
The Elephant
Celebs
1921
Max Ernst
The Couple in Lace
1925
Rene Magritte
Voice of Space
1931
Rene Magritte
The False Mirror
1928
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